No abstract

Methane production from coal seams rather than porous sandstone reservoirs is now recognized as a valuable and recoverable energy source in Australia. The Bowen Basin of Australia possesses well defined coal seams that contain major methane resources. However, commercial gas production to date has been hampered by the low permeabilities of the coal seams. Recovery of this valuable resource will be assisted by a fundamental understanding of coal microstructures and presence of mineralization, and their influence on the gas flow behaviour through coal. This paper examines the relationships between coal type, microstructure, secondary mineralization and gas flow behaviour. The study demonstrates that Bowen Basin coals should not be viewed as simply a dual porosity system of micropores which are surrounded by cleats. Instead, studies using scanning electron microscopy show the Bowen Basin coals have a third porosity system comprising a hierarchy of micron-sized fractures and micronsized cavities at a level between the micropores and the cleat/macropore system, which vary according to coal type. To determine the influence such microstructures have on the flow of gas through the coal matrix, sorption experiments were carried out on small solid blocks of coal, using a new gravimetric technique. The results demonstrate that a clear distinction exists between diffusivity of dull and bright coals in response to coal microstructure. The gas sorption data suggests that both dull and bright coals can be divided into two categories: coal which have a rapid sorption behaviour and coals which have a slow sorption behaviour. The results of the sorption experiments indicate that size, continuity, connectivity of the microstructures, and the extent of minerals infilling the fractures and cavities, play a significant contribution to overall permeability, and are likely to play a major rate-limiting factor in the flow of methane through coal at a level between diffusion at the micropore level and laminar flow at the cleat level. The studies indicate that the flow behaviour of gas through coal seams in the Bowen Basin is unlikely to be solely dependent on the cleat system but rather a combination of the cleat, microstructure and secondary mineralization in coal.